Life's Little Surprises
by Rising Sun et al
Summary: Jarod waits and wonders about Miss Parker


The Challenge as presented at the Fan Fiction Challenge at   
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ffchallange/  
  
Hello all! This is my response to Mickey's picture challenge (the one   
where Jarod's outside Miss Parker's house). Please let me know   
what you think (it was written a while ago but I've been lax in posting it   
to the list, sorry). Feel free to archive if you like, just let me know   
where & keep my name, email & the disclaimer attached.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the Pretender or its characters and I'm not   
doing this to gain any money, I promise. This is purely for fun and no   
infringement is intended. So please don't sue me.  
  
*************************************  
  
Life's Little Surprises  
by Melanie-Anne  
Please send feedback to PrincessMel@fanfix.zzn.com.  
  
Summary: Jarod waits and wonders about Miss Parker  
  
=============================================  
  
For the thousandth time I'm wondering what I'm doing here. Part of   
me wants her to look out of the window and see me, wants her to   
know I'm here, but the other part is petrified that if she does see me   
she'll call in a sweeper team. What I should do is leave. I should get in   
my car and drive away and never look back. Should leave everything   
behind me and start a new life. And do my best to forget everything.  
  
But I can't.  
  
So I sit and wait and watch.  
  
She's still the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. In all my time on   
the outside I've seen plenty of beautiful things and met a lot of women   
who could possibly make me happy. Nia. Zoe. But they fall short in   
every way when I compare them to her.  
  
Maybe it's because I know her so well that I know her beauty isn't only   
skin deep. Many people think that it is. They see her Ice Princess act   
and think that she really is a cold, heartless bitch. But I know. I know   
that she's still the little girl who was my best friend in a place where   
love and friendship were frowned on. She's the girl who gave me my   
first kiss, and shared the secret of her first name with me. The girl who   
lost her mother and came to me for the comfort that her father should   
have given her.   
The woman who still seeks her father's approval and affection, even   
to the point where everything else in her life comes second.  
  
My friend.  
My huntress.  
My love.  
  
I wonder if she knows. I wonder if it would even make a difference.  
  
She's at the window, speaking to someone on the phone. She's not   
wearing her usual clothing. I like her when she dresses casually like   
this. I laugh sadly, if only a change of clothes could solve all our   
problems.  
  
She's laughing - she's even more beautiful when she smiles, I can   
hardly believe that's possible but it is - and I feel a slight pang of   
jealousy. Is it another man on the phone? No, no, it's not. She's still   
hurting over Thomas' death.  
  
He was my friend too and yes, I was jealous but I wanted her to be   
happy. And he did make her happy. I wonder if I really would have   
been able to let her go. At the time I thought I could, but then...why   
am I sitting out here?  
  
I love her.  
  
It shouldn't be possible. Sydney once said to me that Pretenders are   
incapable of falling in love. Yet he lied to me about so many other   
things. I know how I feel. How I've always felt.  
  
Love.  
  
Something only she showed me at the Centre. She gave me no   
conditions, asked for nothing in return except that I be her friend.   
  
I find myself wishing, not for the first time, that our lives had been   
different. In a perfect world we would probably be married by now and   
have a family of our own. What I wouldn't give for that.  
I wonder if she knows I'm here. I'm in plain view and making no   
attempt to hide myself. She hasn't looked in this direction though, and   
there are no sweepers here yet.  
  
I want nothing more than to barge into her house, tell her I love her   
and convince her to come away with me. I have a house waiting and   
new identities in place. But I know I'm just dreaming. It's the blessing   
(or is it a curse?) of having a strong imagination.   
  
If I do go in there she's most likely to handcuff me and drag me back   
to the hellhole we grew up in. I know, I SIM'd it.  
  
Another curse.  
  
Sometimes I wish I was ordinary, that I didn't have this gene that   
made me special. But then I think of all the people I've helped since I   
escaped and I know I wouldn't have it any other way.  
It's almost time for me to go. I wish I didn't have to. If I could, I would   
spend every day just looking at her. I know I would never tire of it.  
  
"What?"  
  
She answers the way she usually does but her tone lacks the usual   
venom.  
  
"Hello, Miss Parker."  
  
"It's a little early for you to call, Jarod. I'm not even in bed yet."  
  
Is she teasing me? Lately it's become so much harder to tell. I haven't   
shared this thought with Sydney yet. I don't think I'm going to. I need   
to work this one out myself.  
  
"I can see."  
  
"What?! Where are you?"  
  
She rushes to the window and looks out. I wave, grinning like an idiot,   
I'm sure. I don't know why I'm still here. Any minute now, I'll get in my   
car and drive away. Any minute now.  
  
She waves at me, smiling back. I'm still here. Why?  
  
"So, do you want to come in for coffee?"  
  
Well, that was certainly a surprise. I'm lost for words. Surely this is a   
trap.  
  
"Uh, umm...." I sputter, inwardly cursing myself for acting like a fool.  
  
"Look, I promise I won't shoot you or anything. I've been thinking   
about...well, everything and there's something I want to talk about."  
  
She's so full of surprises today and I hear her laugh as I get up. I don't   
remember when last I heard her laugh. I love it, it's a warm, throaty   
laugh, and so very inviting.  
  
I'm smiling by the time she opens the door for me, suddenly   
remembering that there was more than one possible outcome for my   
SIM.  
  
Life, after all, is full of surprises.  
  
***  
  
The End 


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